Whitchurch United 0 Alresford Town 3.

The match started slowly and had a distinct end of term feel about it, especially in the early stages of the first half. Alresford had marginally the better of the midfield battle, but rarely threatened the Jam Boys’ well-organised rearguard while at the other end Whitchurch sprang into life when Isaac Sedu broke through two tackles to give himself a shooting chance, but screwed his shot wide of the left-hand post. The Magpies’ best moments came when Dan Strange had a shot blocked and Andy Mott was denied a goal in the follow-up by a good Ashley West save.

Fortunately for the spectators the second half was much better and Jarid Hixon in the Magpies’ goal saved smartly at the end of Sedu’s run on the left, but shortly afterwards fumbled a routine cross and was relieved to see Nic Turpin’s snapshot miss the target.

Alresford opened the scoring on the hour, just a minute after Dominic Cope had replaced Strange on the left. Cope was immediately involved as the Magpies worked the ball forward, Zach Glasspool unleashed a powerful shot that West could only parry and Steve Hall gleefully slotted the ball home.

Hixon tipped round Shane Lock’s shot from a Turpin pass, but on 68 minutes Alresford added a second. West miskicked a clearance to Warren Bentley, who bore down on goal and released the ball at the perfect moment for Andy Mott to slot under the diving West.

That killed the game as a contest but Bentley was keen to strengthen his Golden Boot challenge and after being denied by both West and then a vital touch from Ali Brown, he finally grabbed his 54th goal of the season in injury time after wriggling free in the box and firing home via the inside of the far post.

Greg Boughton